This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family.
I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become.
Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Sunday, May 08, 2011

A lesson from the Romans, for the USA.

Almost two thousand years ago, the Romans killed a man, who held an ideology they didn’t like. No doubt, they thought that killing the man, would kill his ideas, his ideals and his outlook, too. However, it did not. In some way, killing that man, made him more than a man. It made him into the legendary figure we know as “Jesus Christ”. Perhaps, indeed, had they not killed him (or as many Christians hold, temporarily killed him), Christianity would not have taken hold. In some ways, it was the very image of his death, that made his life all the more successful.

This week, the Americans – the Romans of today – have killed a man who held an ideology they didn’t like. No doubt, they think that killing him will kill his ideas, his ideals and his outlook. However, I feel that it will not. In some way, by making him a “martyr”, the Americans may very well be feeding the legendary quality of this man. His death might be the making of his life – just as it was with Jesus Christ.

Now, before you leap to anger and confusion, I am NOT likening Osama bin Laden to Jesus Christ. The latter had a peaceful purpose, the former, evidently did not. They are very different kinds of people – but they share several things in common: their viewpoints were at odds with the establishment of their day. They were unpopular with the most powerful state of their time. They were troublemakers (in different ways). They upset the status quo. They also were both messianic in nature – inspiring devotion in their followers and making men do things greater than, perhaps, they thought themselves capable of doing. They were both motivators of men, and leaders of “cult” like societies. It is also telling to note that the response of the greatest powers of their times, was to kill them.

Of course, there are many differences between them too. Osama’s creed led to the murder of many people, in the name of his cause – whilst the opposite happened with Jesus Christ: that is many who strove in his cause, were murdered for their beliefs. (Though, of course, Al Qaeda devotees can expect the same outcome, too).

The danger for the United States and the western world as a whole, is that there are too many similarities, in the social and political dynamic of these two figures. It could easily be that killing Osama bin Laden could transform him, amongst his followers, into a prophet-like, perhaps even God like, being. He could become a figure of much greater symbolic value than when he was alive…just as happened with Jesus Christ.

Given this understanding, it would, I think, have been a whole let better if that unknown SEAL had held off, with the gun, and quietly coshed his captive and taken him alive. Being captured, has far less dramatic value, far less of the legend about it, than martyrdom.

I rather think that the American approach may turn out to have a price, in future consequences, that they would wish they did not have to pay.

A general principle may be suggested here: when dealing with a legendary and dangerous figure, nothing should be done to enhance the legend. In particular, they should not be killed, for killing the person, has a tendency to immortalize their message. The human dies, but their legend lives on and, in time, becomes far greater than they ever were in life. Indeed, only in death, is the legend free to grow so, for it is no longer encumbered by human limits. The new limit is only the imagination of their followers and the power of their unrealized hopes.

I cannot say what the words Osama bin Laden will mean in two thousand years time. However, I can say this: the fact that the Americans killed him, has greatly enhanced the chance that those three words will still have meaning in that distant time. Indeed, they might mean more then, than they do now. The “War on Terror” might turn out to be a very long one indeed.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

0 Comments:

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family.
I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become.
Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

About Me

As a child, I had many gifts...perhaps too many - and this leads to the characteristic problem many gifted children face: what to do, when there is so much you COULD do. I resolved the issue by doing each of them serially throughout my life. I had gifts in science, writing, art, music, acting and academia...and so my life has demonstrated each of these, at some time. However, in the modern world, those who specialize, and focus all their efforts on one thing, tend to win through. In the light of this I have written two books, which are being prepared for publication.
I was a child in a time when being gifted was not something people spoke about: it was not a widely recognized situation - at least not in my background. Nothing special was done therefore, to help. It is my wish that all in that position, these days, receive the support that is needed, to become the best they can be.
I have been an actor, a writer of two books, a government physicist, at age 17, the founding editor of an Arts magazine, at 22, and a performance artist whose work was covered by CNN (interviewer: Richard Blystone) and Reuters. However, my greatest achievement is to have fathered three sons.